Marauders (2016)

Well, this is another one of those straight to video films, and while it started off pretty good, it sort of nose dived about half-way through. Well, not so much so, but still, like a lot of films it sort of ground to a halt and left me rather dissatisfied with the conclusion. Not to say that this ended up being pretty bad, not at all, it was just that by the time I got to the end I was quite glad that it was over. So, the film is about a group of bank robbers that seem to be targeting specific banks, and killing specific people. The FBI gets involved pretty quickly, meaning that what's happening is pretty serious. The robbers are quite professional, and are certainly not your average street thugs. Further, there seems to be a bit of bad blood between the feds and the local police, but then again that seems to be a common trope. In a way the mystery surrounding it starts off really good, especially with the bank robbery scenes. Unfortunately, once the third one happens, everything goes pear shaped, namely because the FBI happen to be there as well. Then again, that tends to happen in these types of film. Also, the fact that there are bullets flying everywhere, and the major characters seem to escape without injury sort of defies belief. This is pretty much where the film grounds to a halt. Then again, that's the thing with a lot of mysteries because once it becomes apparent what is going on then, at least for me, the best part of the film is over. Actually, I suspect that it has a lot to do with the creator's ability to create a pretty awesome twist, and unfortunately, in this case, it didn't happen.

Soooo many plot holes. I was expecting a lot more considering the cast. Oh well, at least I had a nice bottle of wine.

I gave this movie an 8, and ya maybe i was overcompensating a little for the negative reviews, but i do think this movie is much better than the 5.5 score it currently has. Bruce Willis called this one in from his trailer after a night of bing drinking so if you're looking for John McClane action jackson moves and pithy one-liners from him, you wont find them here. His afternoon stubble may have been his best feature in this film. Chris Meloni was solid, as was Entourage guy, and i'm a full on fan of Dave Bautista. There is a decent amount of violence and good pacing to the movie. It's definitely watchable in my opinion.

No that is not a typo, I meant to write that. The sum of it all does not amount to what some of it is worth it. And I'm talking as a stand alone. If you've been keeping tabs on Bruce Willis you may have noticed him popping up in the odd movie or two in the recent past. Everybody needs money of course, though some do not look kindly on someone like Bruce giving his name to some of the projects he participated in. This movie can be seen as one of the better ones he chose.Putting that out of the way and the fact, he has a couple of interesting scenes, playing it mostly safe, still being effective, there are quite a few people here. But not many get really taken advantage of as much as it would be possible. And I'm not even talking Torrie Wilson or others who have very short appearances in this. No, I mean people like Bautista, Adrian G. or Jonathan Schaech. Although the latter may have the best of it. After a weak introduction, he gets quite a bit of screen time. And he delivers. Anyway, the movie is suspenseful enough to keep you interested all the way through, but it's not a real highlight. Something it could've been